(9) This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.--Again we have the striking formula which always calls attention to some great truth which, in the Church of the first days, had already obtained among the congregations a broad, if not a universal currency, as one of the great watchwords of the faith. Now we find one of these taken apparently from a Christian hymn, now from one of the public prayers or thanksgivings. The "faithful saying," in this instance, was that "godliness," that is, "active, living piety," is profitable for all things, seeing it has the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

Verse 9. - Faithful is the saying for this is a faithful saying, A.V. (1 Timothy 1:15, note). Here, however, the πιστὸς λόγος is that which precedes, viz. that "godliness is profitable for all things," etc., which we thus learn was a proverbial saying.